Finally getting stuff done at home.

I was woken up by a phone call at about nine fifteen am. I had a death South of Uniontown. I went and did my investigation of it. It was my first real case where family, EMT's, and other people were all on the scene. I spent the whole morning doing that rather than what I had planned. After I was done with the on scene investigation, I headed to my office to work on the paperwork. I got it started then headed to Colfax with the camera cradle and the printer. I hooked them to my computer in my IS office. I got the photo's printed out.

I went home and pulled down the door from Victor's garage. It had gotten damaged in a windstorm that came through. I took it down and fixed the door and added some supports. I put it back up. Now it works nicely. I got my boat covered by a blue tarp that I bought while in Seattle. Then I got my extra room cleaned out and put up my bed and nightstand. I slept in the bed. It was nice.

My new laptop.

I drove back from Seattle to Colfax. I drove around a little bit looking for Ryan. We were going to hang out, but his phone was not working so I could not get in touch with him. I went to Mr. Z's casino and won sixty dollars in less than ten minutes. I sat at Russell's table. I left when someone else came and changed up the cards.

I went to Colfax and started to unload my truck. I had a bunch of stuff from my brother. A Dell laptop P-Three Eight hundred Mhz. A couple TV's, a couple monitors, some furniture, and what not. I got everything upstairs into my house.

Going to Fry's.

I was woken up by a phone call from Jon at seven am. I went to his house and made a dump run with him and the boys. Then we went to his house and he showed me his ATI All-in-Wonder card in his computer. I thought that was pretty sweet. He gave me a firewire card with USB two-point-oh as well.

We then got Lisa and headed to Southcenter for pictures with Santa. The boys got the pictures taken. We went to McDonald's. We all got a meal and then they went up North to get a Christmas tree. I broke off and went to Big Lots, which is a store. I got a few laundry baskets and a few tarps.

Then I came home and gave Bill a ride to downtown Renton. Amber came along for the ride. I got back home, dropped off Bill's truck and drove to Fry's. I spent a fair amount of time cruising the isles full of electronics. I ended up buying an ASP.net/C# book. I also got the newest Linkin Park CD. I was distracted for a little while in the computer section by all the ten-six-sevens. There were a few for sure. One was about six-foot-four with nice blue eyes. I watch for a while until I lost site.

I came home again and mom helped me cook fat back for dinner and I have some potato's and gravy as well. It was very good as always. I went to Briarwood Market and got some bread then I called Dave. We went to Shari's for some chow. We talked for a while about owning our houses. We talked about work. It was nice. Dave and I have been friends for about ten years. We are both conservative. We both like to gamble. We are both into making money.

We were at Shari's for about two hours and then we went to Cascade Casino. I sat down at Texas Shootout and lost ten dollars. I got some more money and sat at PaiGow. I won about sixty dollars there. I was sitting at a table with a ten-six-seven. Well, he was close to a ten-six-seven. Then a real ten-six-seven walked to the table. He have sandy-blonde hair, really straight white teeth. A nice smile. His arms jumped out at me. He wore a black shiny shirt with a fleece vest over the top. He biceps were very well toned and looking hot. I could not keep my eyes off of him for any length of time. I cashed in after a while.

Then Dave and I decided to play some blackjack. I sat on a table where the dealer would show both of the cards he had. There were some rule differences. One was that the dealer would win a push. Also, blackjacks paid straight money. I won a bit of money. Then I moved to a few different tables. I lost a little bit of it at another table. We I sat down at my third table, a guy at the end of the table called out my name. And he said that he was Vonda's son. I was surprised. He was young last time I really saw him. Now he is out of high school and everything. Dave won some more money at blackjack and then we left at about three o'clock am. I have been up for more than twenty hours, so it is time for bed really shortly.

Thanksgiving dinner.

I was woken up by Bill. He wanted me to go with him to check up on his dad. He was not answering the phone. We got almost all the way there when we got a call that everything was okay. We went back to our house. I went to Safeway to get some pop. I saw Janet while I was there.

I went home and waited for dinner. It was nice. My mom cooked a bunch of stuff, Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, scalloped corn, and several other dishes. I ate more than I should have I know. I was full.

Going to Califo... er... Seattle.

I got up and went into work for about one hour. Then I was off to Seattle. The trip wet fast. The road conditions were good. I got to Seattle in about four and a half hours. I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the house.

Working the jail again.

I had to work at the jail this evening. It was a pretty slow night. I did release one person. I went to the fire station where there was fire training that I was missing. I watched it for a little bit. They were doing search and rescue training.

Poker party

I spent the day moving from my old office to my new office. I have moved a ton of stuff, and it does not seem like I have made a very big dent. I think I will throw away a ton of stuff since I don't know what half of it is, and the other quarter I have never used.

Following that I went to Pullman for cascade system training. That was over quickly. John, Dan, and I went to my office to play poker. We playing until just after eleven pm. I ended up losing a little bit of money. But it was nice to play cards again.

Vehicle Maintenance

I slept in a little bit today. That was very nice to do. Then I let Amber outside and watched a little bit of football. I thought I would get ambitious and move stuff from my spare room to allow me to set up my bedroom and get stuff going on the house. About half way through it a Colfax call came out. I went to the station and missed getting on the Ambulance. So I manned the station.

I headed home and then to Pullman to be on call. I went to the station and ate dinner first off. Then I started maintenance on the vehicles before anyone else got there, I did about half of the Rescue myself. Michael said he was disappointed that I was still leaving. He thought that things had been smoothed over in our conversation. After maintenance we did a one minute drill where you put on the SCBA, helmet, gloves, mask, and hood in under one minute. I did a personal best forty-five seconds. I hung out at the station until about ten thirty pm. I went to my office and set up Premiere Six on my computer. I was working on the movie that I was trying to get going yesterday.

I got a lot farther with it. Then a call came out of carbon monoxide in a house. I went up on Rescue and sat around for more than two hours doing nothing. After the call, I got back cleaned off the rig, got one last thing done on the movie I am making and then headed to bed. It was after three o'clock am.

Another Loss

I got up and took care of a few things. Then I went to Pullman to Zeppoz. I was meeting up with the whole summer softball gang to watch the Apple Cup. Ryan and Kristine also showed up. It was not a good day for the Apple Cup. We ended up letting the Huskys come back at the very end of the game and win. It was terrible. Having to listen to Ron go on about it for another year! That I think was one of the worst things. Plus it knocked us out of the Rose Bowl picture. Which financially for me is good. I can't afford the trip, but I would have gone.

After the game we went to Ron and Heathers to do some gambling. I lost money. After that I went to Zeppoz again and played some cards there. I lost some more. I then headed home and got to bed.

Working the jail.

I put a full day in at IS, and then I put a mostly full day in at the jail. I was working with Howard. There were a few bookings to do. I did one of them on my time on the floor.

RIT training

I sent this letter to Bryan in reference to our previous conversation.

Bryan,

I am very sorry that I did things when we first met that made you feel
uncomfortable. That is the stuff that probably ruined our chances of ever
becoming real friends, and for that I too am sorry.

It never was my intention to make you feel uncomfortable, ever. I hope that
me being around nowadays does not cause you that kind of discomfort. I want
to make it so things are comfortable for you. So you will finally start to
forget about the old stuff and focus on how things were going last summer
where I think there were no problems and we were both having fun.

I will out the ball in your court. You can choose if you want to be
friendly off the fire ground or if you would rather remain distant. I will
not force anything.

In the words of an old wise man: Be safe, Bro. [this is something Bryan always would say]

Your shiftmate,

Scotty



I got a call from Dan looking for a cover. Since I was covering I was also going to be doing the RIT training part Two. It was really cool. I was on Rescue. With all the snow I was expecting a ton of accidents. Turns out there was only one we were dispatched to. At training we learned to go through a sixteen inch opening with full turnouts and an airpack. We did one drill where we went head first onto the ladder that was up to the second floor. You right arm would go down about three rungs and you would grab on, your left arm would slide down the rail of the ladder. Then you would let your weight outside the window, using your arms to control your body carefully leading it to the rungs on the ladder. Then you would do a quick descended by putting your feet on the outside on the outside of the rails and hold on to them with your hands. Then slide from there. That was a rush. The whole experience was very fun. Then I went to the station and hung out there for the rest of the night. I slept down there as well. As I said before no accidents. We did have one call at about midnight. It was someone with a back injury who was hurt during a fight on Greek Row. We were cleared shortly after arriving.

Bryan and I talked a little bit. It was while we were at training. He helped me get into the harness for going on the ladder drill. He was cool to me out there, but like he said on the fire ground we have each others back. Off the fire ground it was different still.

Brandon and I talked about the whole situation with me changing shifts. I told him I will be leaving C shift. He said he would miss me.

Talking with Bryan.

Today was Brandon's birthday. He turned twenty-six. I called him to wish him a happy birthday. He asked if I was still working for Pullman fire. I told him I was. He said that he is with Cashmere Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter/EMT. I thought that was so cool to hear. We chatted fire department stuff for about an hour and twenty minutes. He has been doing it for a year. He said he lives really close to the fire department so he makes a lot of calls. He said he really likes what he is doing. He enjoys helping people. He wants to do it as a career now. I just wish we could have served in the Pullman Fire Department while he was here. It was nice to have a good conversation with him.

After talking to Brandon, I went to the fire station. I am switching shifts because of the things I have been talking about. I am going to switch to A shift where Bryan is. The problems that exist between him and I are also documented. I have gone to Bryan a while back. I asked him was the problem was that he had with me. He at that time claimed there was nothing.

This time I did not ask if there was a problem. I told him that I know a problem exists, and I wanted to know what it is so I could do what I can to avoid making the problem worse. He told me that it is nothing recent. It is stuff from a long time ago. He said some of the stuff I did a long time ago made him uncomfortable around me and that has obviously carried over to today since there is still fall out from it.

He said that when he learned some new things about me that the old things were that much more pronounced. I responded back to him, asking if by the new things he was talking about the fact that I am gay. He said yes. I told him that I was sorry for making him feel uncomfortable. That would never have been my intention to do so. If anything I am sure I was joking around with him. I doubt that made him feel any better.

I told him that when I meet someone I feel like we are instantly friends, and that I feel like I can act in my normal way. But many times that can cause problems since they don't know me well, and don't understand when I am joking around and just having fun. He said he is the opposite of that. It takes a while for someone to become friends with him. I agreed with him saying I am more that way these days. You meet someone in class or something like that, you are not friends, you are more like acquaintances. Good acquaintances, but acquaintances all the same. Then as time goes on, when a two way street is developed. When people choose to do things outside of class or that one place you met, then it starts to turn into a friendship. If you are lucky people will become good friends. I told him I have a few really good friends. Some good friends, and a ton of acquaintances. I said that I do not have a best friend. I said that a best friend by definition can only be one person. I use to have a best friend. He name was Peter. We are no longer friends.

Bryan and I talked for about an hour and a half or a little more. I also talked about teh more recent problem where I have been treating him like an ass. I would not talk to him. I would not do anything out of my way for him. But as I always said I would never let anything to happen to him on the fire ground. He said he did notice me treating him poorly. Doing things on purpose so he would see that I am upset.

As we talked I get the feeling due to what he said that he is uncomfortable with gays in general. There is nothing I can do to try to make him comfortable while I am around. He will have to live with the fact a sissy faggot is in the same rooms as he is. I don't think any of the past is fixed. He said "forgive but not forget." Which is interesting. I told him I would leave the ball in his court as to how much he wants to do off the fire ground. He said that he would work fine with me on the fire ground. I get the feeling that while off the fire ground he could give a rats ass.

I left there knowing I would not be an ass to him. But I still don't think I am going to go out of my way to be the friendly guy. I told him if he wants to open dialog while off the fire ground, I will respond positively.

Flag football playoffs.

I sent out an e-mail to everyone about team captain's. There was a three way tie, so for a tie breaker I resent an e-mail asking for the tie to be broken. Dan ended up winning.

I had my playoff game in Intramurals for flag football at five o'clock. So, I was getting off early for that. I left work around three fifteen and headed home. Changed into flag football stuff and then off to Pullman.

In Pullman I stopped at my office and got some e-mail checked, and tried to get the coroner’s printer hooked to my computer so I could print pictures.

I headed to the field. We played. I did not get a single pass thrown to me. I more or less did my job and called it a day. We lost. Everyone stopped and talked a little bit more. Richard from the team will be playing softball on my IM team. One other guy there, Bryce, had a nice football. I loved to throw it and to use it. Both of those guys are big time ten-six-seven's.

After the game I headed to Eddy's in Colfax for the coroner's meeting. We discussed some cases, then made an on-call list for the rest of this month and all of next month. After the meeting I came to my IS office. I was going to work on the sunglasses order and do some homework that is due on Wednesday.

When I got to the IS office, Paul came down asking if I could help him and Chad make some awards for the reserves. I went up and helped him out. Then I got the sunglasses order taken care of. I went off to home and to bed.

Talking to Francie

I headed to class. We got our test back. I did pretty well on it. I think I will end up with a C+ or B- out of the class. I am sure I could do better if I were to spend more time studying. After the test I went to my office and worked on the computer for a little while. Then I headed to training. We had OTEP training. The topic was trauma. We talked about TBI's, also known as Traumatic Brain Injuries. We talked about doing the Glasco Coma Scale on people. We talked about what the numbers mean, and when we should be concerned. Every current reserve on the department made the training. It was amazing! That is the first time in ages we were all there.

I talked to Francie about trading shifts with me. She would go to C shift and I would go to A shift. She said she was willing to do that. So, now I know I can trade. I am a little worried about changing to A shift in some ways. Chuck can be hard to deal with at times. And there is me and Bryan. But getting along with Chuck should not be too bad, and I am planning on getting with Bryan and talking to him about some stuff.

After training John and I went to My Office Bar for a drink. I bought John a tub of Coors Light and I had one. I told him how my meeting with Michael went on Sunday. We talked about his expectations. I am afraid of getting on the shift and not meeting his expectations as well as he wants.

He said that he is excited about me getting on his shift. He said he has wanted me on his shift for a long time but thought I was perfectly happy on C Shift. Overall I think I could handle staying on C Shift. I am worried that the idea of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence will come up and bite me in the butt. I am afraid that I will see that it was not all that bad on C Shift.

We are talking about making the change at the beginning of December. I think before I move I really need to sit down with Bryan and talk with him, and open some lines of communication. I know there are problems there and for some reason he is afraid to tell me what they are. It is better to open communication and air out the problems rather than keep them suppressed.

After we talked for a while and drank our beer, we each headed home.

The talk.

I decided that I would sleep in this morning since I did not need to worry about teaching the First Aid class in Pullman. It had been cancelled. Around noon I got up and let Amber in the house. I hung around the house vegetating most of the day.

Then it was time to head to Pullman for vehicle maintenance. I got up there and signed up for Rescue since no one else was signed up. Michael and the others showed up. We started on the maintenance. I worked on Rescue. Afterwards Michael and I drove to station one to get supplies that were missing. He asked what was going on. So, I told him. I said that I don't normally like to use names, but in this case it was necessary.

I told him about Shane and how I am treated by him. How it started to get bad when I overheard him and Bryan talking with his girlfriend about the place at the station. I told him how Shane will not sign up for rescue night with me nor Brandon. I talked about how Brandon and I are excluded from the clique within the shift. It is the AJH Fireguys and then Brandon and I. We are always on the outside. I mentioned about the big shift get together. Then it was cancelled and no one bothered to tell Brandon and I. How there was another get together that happened. Once again Brandon and I were left out. I talked about the night at dinner when the crew was doing hydrant maintenance. Brandon and I were again left out of the conversation. The conversation revolved around AJH Fire and other subject that Brandon and I are not a part of.

He said he understood the problem. He said that Shane was that way with more people than just me. He said that in the next eleven months the whole crew will turn over. Starting in April the first will go, then in May, then in November. He said it would only be him and I left.

I then said that some of the other problem is the interactions we have had. I said that part of it is my problem for not communicating these problems early and getting the taken care of. I told him how he would yell at me in front of other people. I told him about the first time I messed up and left without the proper number of people who he yelled at me in front of other people. Then about a year later I screwed up again, and he again yelled at me in front of other people. He also said "This is your second major fuck up." I did not see it as a big screw up like he said it was. I told him that when I feel it is necessary to "yell" at someone at the jail I do it in person I pull the person aside and I talk pretty calmly about the problem. I said that I did not like getting yelled at like that. Then I told him that I believe that ever since going to the shifts that I was never someone who was wanted on C-Shift. I was just someone was better than the alternative. I always felt unwelcome on the shift. I never felt like a C-Shifter. I never felt he was talking about me when he would say things like "C-shift rules", or "C-shift does this or that better". I told him about that night a few Friday's ago when he said that Jason would drive the rest of the shift, and then gave the keys to Jason after the call. To me that was the final thing.

He said that he is sorry I feel that way, and that he has not meant to make me feel that way. He said he was sorry for yelling at me like he did. He said if I still feel I need to leave the shift that I could trade with someone like Francie.

Cougs beat up on ASU

I did not hear my alarm clock ringing at six o'clock this morning. I woke up at about nine. I drove back to Pullman, but I was unable to get any sleep since it was getting so late. I did lay down for a while with Amber. Then I got up, and got ready for the game. I went to my IS office and got the awards voting sheet's ready. I went to get gas in my truck, and then I was off to Pullman for Cougar Football!

I went to Meredith's house and met up with her and Jeremy. We walked to the bus stop and took the bus in. We were at the field house walking through to get to our seats. Walking through the field house I was leading the way and a ten-six-seven was following us all the way through. We got to the gate, and I told them I would meet up with them inside I was going to run over to the tailgate party. TJ was there, as was the rest of the gang. We greeted each other. I got some beer, then I was off to find Meredith. I knew the area to go, but I did not know where exactly she was. I got to the right section. Rob was in the first row above the concourse walkway. I said hi to him and then looked for Meredith. I could not see her. So I called her on the cell phone. I asked here she was, and she said "right here" and waved. She was in the row directly behind Rob. I laughed and made my way up to her place.

The Cougs came out and never looked back as they went on to beat ASU. At half time I went to the tailgate and had some more beer.

Following the game we did the Cougar Fight Song and were off to Meredith's apartment. We took the bus back. I got there and picked up Ryan. We had to get to Zeppoz for the post season softball party. Many of the people did not show up, even though I asked those who would not make it to let me know via e-mail. Phil, Dan, Michele, Ron, Heather, Lisa, Ryan, and I were there to start. Then Jer showed up late. We drank beer and played some cards in Mr. Z's casino. Most people started to leave, but Phil, Ryan, Jer, and I stuck around longer. Russell showed up for his shift to work in the casino.

After Jer and Phil left Ryan and I went into the casino. I played at a few tables with Russell. I tipped him pretty well. I ended up walking out of there with about the same as I walked in with.

I went back to Ryan's apartment, and hung out there for a little while. But I was tired and decided to head home.

Still no sleep

So it is midnight, I have not been to sleep since Thursday morning, and I will not get to bed for quite a while after this. I was slated to work a full day in IS since I was making up time from earlier in the week. i got to the jail and I was very tired. The evening in the jail was quite uneventful. I did my rounds. I had one guy challenge my authority. I took him into the sally port and had a nice conversation with him to explain why I would not tolerate his behaviour.

When I got off at the jail it was downstairs to work in IS. That was at eight o'clock am. I stayed in my jail uniform until a little after noon. I checked out the new rescue at Colfax fire. That was sort of a cluster, the process of getting it. The people involved in doing it did not do it fairly for everyone involved. I think the wrong choice was made. The rescue unit looks nice, but there are some things I noticed about it that I already think show's why we would have been better off going with a different company. But nothing I can do about that now.

I kept going, keeping awake. There was a time I wanted to go to sleep, however now I am doing pretty good. So, I kept on trucking.

After I got off work I went to Pullman I was going to be on call at the fire department. I stopped at my office and got some of the information together I was going to need for the softball team awards. Then I hung around in the city since I was on call. I started to watch Beautiful Thing. When a call came out. I went to the station and on the call. Then I stayed at the station for a few hours to see if other calls would come out. I had a few Family Guy videos and watched those at the station. Brandon and Chuck were watching them with me.

It was pretty late, and I have still not been to bed. But I was not all that tired. Chuck, Brandon, and I sat around and chatted for a while longer. We were close to leaving when another call came out. We waited for Michael to show up. He never did, so we left.

After that call I went to my office and went to sleep. I set my alarm clock to be up at six o'clock so I could go home and get some real sleep.

No Sleep.

I had combitube and defib recertification training at WSU fire. It was supposed to start at six o'clock. The instructor thought it was starting at seven. I waited around for it to start. Several other reserves and a WSU fire fighter were there as well. A couple of the guys came up on Engine thirty-two. When they sat down I was handing out the tests to them. I was giving the tests to the first two people there while I was doing that Bryan asked "can I get a test too?" I curtly came back with "give me a second!"

After the class was over I went to my flag football game. I was not in a position to play but I watched the other guys play. Ryan was there to watch. Afterwards I went to my office. We were there for a little bit then decided to go to Ryan's apartment to watch the Simpson's. We got an episode of the Simpson's completed then watched the Family Guy.

Soon after the Family Guy was over I got a call on my cell phone. It was about midnight. It was Jeremy from the jail. He reminded me that I was supposed to be at the jail right then. I was upset because I did not have that day on my schedule. To top it off, I had not slept yet. I told him to give me about one hour and I would be in. I had to drive to Colfax, get my uniform, then to the jail.

Website needs to get done.

I went to class like I normally do. Then after class I went to my office and worked on the website for the company in California.

Winning at cards.

I worked today since I took so much time off yesterday. While at work I got a call from Michael. He asked if I was busy. I told him that I was at work. He said we could talk about it later on. When I got off work I went to the fire station for training. I tried to call Michael but no one was home. I left a message.

We had our business meeting, then we played cards. I did pretty well.

My teeth still hurt.

I went to the dentist since my teeth were hurting. I could not chew with the left side of my mouth. He explained why that was. They ground down some of my fillings on the left side. Then told me to take ibuprofen for the next two weeks. That would help the swelling.

I then went to the CUE computer lab and started to study for my Accounting Two-Thirty test. I spent time studying and using the computer, back and forth. Finally at test time, I tested away. I felt pretty good about most of it.

After the test I went to my office and worked on some web stuff for the housing commission. While there I re-emailed Michael about the shift changes. I has asked him if he saw the e-mail I sent to him. He said he had not.

NFL Sunday.

I woke up after a nice long sleep. I went out to watch football on TV. NFL Sunday! I actually had some free time before I had to be in Pullman for rig checks. I wanted to get something done. It turns out I got nothing at all accomplished other than being a lazy bum.

I headed off to Pullman for rig checks at the fire station. Those went without much noteworthy things happening. We also went to the main station and went over the new air splints.

The day after.

I woke up at Ryan's apartment. I was hungry, but those hunger pains were sort of mistaken as other pains. I was in the situation where you don't want to eat because your stomach hurts, but your stomach hurts because you haven't eaten. I had some water, but I was not hung over at all. I walked to the bus stop and rode the bus to the other side of campus. I walked to Russell's and talked to him about the nights. He told me a little more about how I was reacting and what I did and what I said. I felt bad, but I was not doing it on purpose.

My hair was still spiked and blue. I was going to have to go to the game like that. Dan was going to meet me at the game as well. I drove to McDonald's and got a vanilla milkshake and a hamburger. I nibbled on that and slurped the shake. I drove to the area of Bailey Field and parked. I walked to the tail gate party. Everyone was laughing at the hair. I could only tell them that it was a loooooong night.

I was offered a few beers, all of which I turned down. I hung out for a little bit, then went inside Johnson hall to find a place to sit down. I went into a lecture hall and started to sleep. Dan called me and was waiting for me outside. I met up with him, and we walked to the game. We were on the very top row of the student section.

When the National Anthem was being played we all sung along to it, then a big military aircraft from Fairchild AFB in Spokane flew by. That got the crowd going. We were playing UCLA, and the Cougs handled UCLA pretty easily.

After the game I did the fight song with the team and then off to the tailgate party. By this time I had a beer or two and hung out chatting with everyone. I left after a little while and went home.

I don't feel too good.

I got up and made it into work to work graveyard in the jail. Friday graveyard is nothing special. I worked with Dale. When I got off I went to IS and worked there for my five hours I had to put in and make up for going to classes. Following that I headed to Pullman to meet with Dan. We were going to meet with John from the ASWSU Housing Commission about rebuilding their website. They wanted to get a quote from Lobo Computer Services. After talking to John I am comfortable that we can come in and work on the website within their budget.

While sitting in the CUB's third floor lounge I saw Peter. He said "hi" to me. That was about it. He did not make he way over to chat for any longer.

After dealing with the housing commission I headed back to Colfax. I hung out there for a while waiting to meet up with Russell. I cut my hair, shortening up the side, and leaving the top longer. I put my blue styling goop into my hair turning it a nice blue color. With my hair spiked, wearing my "The Cheat" tee shirt, and blue jeans I headed to Pullman.

Once in Pullman I stopped at the liquor store to pick up some Brandy and Vodka. In the liquor store the store worker was staring at me. Which was funny because he has a lip ring and what not, yet he found I was worth staring at.

At Russell's house I broke open the Vodka and Brandy. I started to take a few shots. I started slowly, having a shot of one, then the other. Soon I was speeding up, going faster and faster between shots. I had three small tequila's in my coat too. That way while at the show I could keep my buzz going. Within the half hour I was at Russell's I had finished off half a fifth of Brandy, and almost half a fifth of Vodka. I was starting to feel woozy. I got into Russell's car and we started to head to Moscow, Idaho. Our first stop was at Winco foods. I don't remember the trip over there. By this time I was really starting to feel out of body.

We were in the Winco food parking lot and I did not feel like going inside the store. I asked Russell to get me some water. I knew I would want water to keep from getting too sick in the morning. I was not feeling all that well. In fact I was feeling out of body, so to speak. I was standing up outside the car. I was super dizzy and had a hard time standing up. I was wobbly and used the car to keep from falling down. There was a guy in a truck next to us. I am sure he could tell I was really plastered.

I was then starting to get worried, when I realized that I was really drunk, and that took some time to realize, I was worried. I have seen many cases of alcohol poisoning. I saw a guy stop breathing shortly after we got to a scene where just a little while before the guy was standing. I started to think about how I was worried I would stop breathing. I did not want to get into that situation.

I pulled out my cell phone and called nine-one-one. I talked to the dispatcher for a tiny bit. I don't really remember the conversation all that well. I do remember him saying that if I felt I needed an ambulance that he could send one, but since I was able to make the call to him, that I was not that bad off. If I had a friend who could drive me in, that would be better. Russell got mad because I was on the phone with nine-one-one. I told him I wanted to go to the hospital. He said I did not need to go. I was really scared, I started to think to myself that I did not want to die. I was so worried I would stop breathing and no one would be there to help me. I argued with Russell a little bit about going to the hospital, and finally he said he would. Before I got in the car, I remember going down and puking on the ground. We got in the car and I remember telling Russell to pull over because I had to puke. I said I did not want to puke in his car, and I needed him to pull over. He did. I jumped out and puked on the ground. Russell rubbed my back and tried to make me feel better.

I got back into the car and we drove towards Gritman Hospital. Near the Beach we let out April and Curtis. They went to the show and Russell continued towards the hospital. About a block after we let them off I needed to puke again. I was yelling at Russell to let me out to puke again. He pulled over and I leaned out and puked, then I sort of slid out of the car onto the ground. It felt so good to lay down. I told Russell I was not feeling good. He said that I shouldn't be, I had just drank a fifth.

But, the cool air, the laying, it all started to feel good. By this time I had been up for almost twenty-two hours, plus I was working on less that four hours of sleep. I was laying there on the ground and Russell was yelling at me to get into the car. I did not want to because I felt better laying on the ground. He said I had to get into the car. A cop had just driven by. He said I had to get into the car. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I said I did, so then he said you need to get into the car. I said no. He said if I do not get into the car I can not get to the hospital. He said, do you see the problem? I said that he should just call the ambulance. He said if he could pick me up and put me in the car he would. But since he can't I need to do it on my own.

I finally got into the car. He drove around the hospital. Went to an entrance that looked like the one for the ER. I got out of the car. He said we were at the wrong place and I needed to get back into the car. I refused and said make them come and get me. That is their job. Russell was miffed, but went to get them. Someone wheeled a wheelchair out to me. I got into it and they wheeled me into the hospital. I remember I still had my eyes closed. I would open them for a brief second to see what was around me. I was wheeled in to a recover type area. I laid down on a bed and went fast asleep. I did puke at least one more time. They put a BP cuff on my arm and a blood/oxygen reader on my finger.

At around three in the morning I was woken up to go home. Ryan was there. I was helped outside. Kristine and Ryan had come to pick me up. They drove me to Ryan's apartment. I went down the stairs and plopped down on his couch. I fell fast asleep. No longer feeling sick like before mostly tired.

Boring!

I woke up in Pullman having not done anything of note while on call. I got up and worked a full day in IS only to rush home and to bed. I had to work at midnight in the jail. So, I needed all the sleep I could get.

This is a Week and a Half worth of stuff. I was behind.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER TWENTY-FIFTH
I woke up by alarm clock on Saturday morning since I was working the Dad's Weekend edition of Cougar Football. I was in the East Endzone working for WSU fire. I got ready which included "hemming" my fire department pants. I washed them. I was using the handyman's secret weapon, duct tape, to fix the hem. In the wash they came out so I had to replaced them. I got them and put them back into place.

I headed to Pullman. I talked to Russell. We were planning on going to see Jay Leno at eight thirty. Our plan was for me to meet him at his apartment. He gave me a ride to the fine arts building where I walked to the fire station from there. I left my truck at his house. I hung out at the fire station for a few minutes gathering my trauma bag, EMS vest, and radio.

I walked into position and radioed that I was there. It was now a matter of helping people with medical problems and watching the Cougs play football. The fire boots however are not made to stand in for six straight hours. It causes some pain. With my left ankle being so messed up it was worse. The pain got worse as the day went on. In fact I was limping pretty bad. For a while I have not had a full range of motion in my left ankle. I am actually thinking about going to the doctor one of these days about it.

The Cougar game was pretty messy. They started by getting quick two scores. Then we stalled for a while. It was a huge defensive battle. Each team dominated the others' offense. Soon our defense was showing some holes. Oregon State scored a few times by running back some of the interceptions for touchdowns. One Oregon State fan was standing near me and he was purposely being an ass to all the Cougar fans around him. When the second half started and the Cougs decided they were done playing around with Oregon State we went to work and scored more and more. Finally going ahead. The Oregon State fan by this time decided it was time to shut up. He did. As time went on I almost forgot he was there. His posture was slumping; you could see he was wrecked. It was great to see an ass get humiliated like he did. Cougs won and everyone was amazed at the wild game.

I then headed to the field house I was working the EMS there. It was getting close to Jay Leno time and Rod, the fire marshal, let me go a little early. Russell showed up. We talked for a while, pointing out some of the ten-six-sevens in the room. Wondering if any of them are weedeater-less. We left for Jay Leno. We walked across the foot bridge. I turned and looked back, about three people behind me was someone I recognized. Or I thought I recognized. I asked Russell to look. He said, yep, that is Drew Dunning. I looked back again and he nodded his head at me. I said, You went to Liberty. He said he did and asked if that is where I went. I said I did. He asked when I graduated. I said ninety-two. He said, just a little before me and we both laughed.

We got to our seats and waited for Jay Leno. We had to wait through a folk music act. when they were done, Jay Leno came on. He was pretty funny. Some of his material was dated, making jokes about people from the news from the early ninety’s, but it was still funny.

I walked back to Russell's apartment and got my truck. We chatted about stuff for a few minutes then I was off to Colfax. I had to get the jail to help do hearings and a shakedown on some work release inmates who were drinking on litter patrol. Heads were going to roll, and an officer lost his job over it. Sam and I did the hearings. The inmates got locked down and lost good time over it. Most admitted to doing one, one lied about it, so he got a second hearing out of it. He got locked down until the end of his stay due to lying to the hearing board. I left the jail and got home at five o'clock AM. Since it was daylight savings time, I was up an hour more so it would like going to bed at six am.


SUNDAY, OCTOBER TWENTY-SIXTH
I got up less that two hours after going to bed. I was really tired and my ankle was killing me. It felt like it was sprained. I went to the CPR class. There was a guy in there who was pretty good looking. He had the whole blonde hair, blue eyes thing going for him. Following class I was going to study with Rob at the library. We met up at Holland and studying in the old library in the old entry/exit area, there are now tables. We used one of those. We worked until about eight o'clock. I headed over to Ryan's and we watched some TV then I went home.


MONDAY, OCTOBER TWENTY-SEVENTH
We had live fire training in Moscow. It was nice and hot inside. I was grouped with Brandon, Matt, and Bryan. After training we went to the airport fire station to top off a bottle for Twiggy. He took us for a spin in their big airport fire truck. Then we headed to station one to top off the cascade system. After that was done, I had someone covering for me, I went to My Office Bar and Grill as had dinner and a couple tubs of beer.


TUESDAY, OCTOBER TWENTY-EIGHTH
We had high rise training in Colfax. I had blisters on my knees still. It hurt to crawl.


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER TWENTY-NINTH
After my class I headed to the fire critique. About halfway through it the tones went off. There was a call. Jason said that no was scheduled to go on rescue. I scheduled myself to take the night off. But I went back just in case. Before I was at Dissmore's rescue called en route. So, I broke off and headed to my office to work on the website for the company in California for the rest of the evening.


THURSDAY, OCTOBER THIRTYITH
I had my first actual flag football game since last week as a forfeit win for us. We won with a shut out. We did really well. The other team was a bunch of whinny guys.

After the game I went to Ryan's and we watched CSI together.


FRIDAY, OCTOBER THIRTY-FIRST
Halloween! Quite a busy day it was, for sure. Started with working at IS. Then I had a dentist appointment at noon. I had to get some cavities filled. That took until a little after two pm. I met up with Dan for lunch at Quizno's. I saw Eddy there as well. I headed to the fire station to polish my boots before the night would begin. I got inside and Bryan was there. He actually said "Hello Scott." After polishing my boots, I got my turn out put together after washing them.

Our first stop was Palouse Center. We were there for a Halloween activity for kids. I saw a bunch of people I know. I chatted with them. Dan, Brandon, and I handed out balloons most of the time we were there. Just before we left there we called Cougar Country and got an order placed. We stopped and picked it up along the way since we had to get directly to the Pullman High school football game. Pullman is tied for the lead in the Great Northern League. They are doing really well this year. Losing one game to a team outside of their league. It was so cold that I was wearing my sweatshirt, fire coat, hood, hat, and gloves.

After the game I was on call for the rest of the evening. We had several calls through out the night. We had a call to someone's house. We could not find the patient. We had a semi truck accident about quarter till five in the morning. The trucker has put his truck on its side about fifty feet into a field. He was standing. We took out a window and pulled the guy through it. The rescue guys were not needed for the hospital trip so we left to go back to the station.

At the station we were backing in the rig when another call came out. It was for a sick guy. Turns out he was also complaining of chest pain. I hooked the defib to him, and went with to the hospital. That was the end of the night were I made it to bed for about an hour to an hour and a half.


SATURDAY, NOVEMBER FIRST
Straight from the fire department to the jail. I had to work until noon. I also had to put in a few hours in Information Services. So once I was done in the jail at noon I went downstairs and worked IS. Following IS I went to Russell’s apartment and I watched the Cougar game with a lot of the band members. The Cougars were playing USC. The sixth ranked Cougars might I add, playing the third ranked Trojans. At half time with the Trojans leading fifteen to ten, we headed to someone else’s apartment to watch the rest of the game. Via Cougar penalties and many poor calls by the officials, USC finished off the Cougs. We now have a seven and two record on the year coming home to play UCLA. I left after the game and hung out with Ryan for the rest of the evening, then I went to my office for a while.


SUNDAY, NOVEMBER SECOND
I fell asleep at my office and I was there until about six o'clock in the morning. I went outside to a slight dusting of snow. I drove to Colfax and went back to sleep for a while. When I got up for a second time I drove to the fire station and chatted with Ken for a while. Catlin showed up just before I had to leave. I drove to Pullman and got some teriyaki chicken from Safeway and then off to the fire station for drug recognition training.

Trooper Crandle taught the class. It was interesting. I was hoping to learn more about specific drugs that we may encounter in the area and the effects it has on people. Crandle taught more on recognizing there was some usage and passing that information to officers.

After class I drove to my office and worked on the website I am building for a client. I had to get some more functionality into it. I worked on it for about two or three hours. I finished what I was hoping to get done. I passed that information to the client.

I drove to Ryan's apartment we watched King of the Hill, the Simpson’s, and Malcolm in the Middle. Then I headed back to Colfax I took Amber outside and then headed off to bed.


MONDAY, NOVEMBER THIRD
I went to fire training after class. When I got to the station I found out that I did not have training after all. So I went back to my office and continued to work on the website for the company in California. I had called John to see if he would meet with me for a little bit. He said he would.

After I got a few updates to the website taken care of, I went to John's house. I wanted to talk to him about my displeasure with my duty crew at the fire station. We are all assigned to shifts. I am on "C" shift. I have a crew leader and about three other crew members.

My feelings are that the crew leader does not think too highly of me. He brings up some things that have happened in the distant past when I was nearly a rookie. The shift in of itself is a clique. There are three guys on the shift who do wildland firefighting together. That is the Michael, the crew leader, as well as Shane and Jason.

Shane has an outright dislike for me. I am unsure where it comes from. He has never totally liked me as far as I can tell. That is how I have always felt around him. He would talk to me at least when I was around. Ever since the interviews for the station resident spot, he does not even talk to me. It was his girlfriend who was involved with situation which could have caused the over all riff. I will post more about the problem later. Ever since then Shane has had nothing at all to say to me.

Jason is hard to tell. He is one of those guys who is nice to everyone. But I think if he had his way he would not have to deal with me.

Michael I think got stuck with me. When crews were being picked years ago I was the second to last picked. And it was either me or a guy that most of the people on the department don't have respect for. I was chosen over him. It has always killed me that Gilbert was picked before me. So, it is not like Michael really wanted me, it was that he needed to fill out his crew and it was more or someone perceived to be worse than me. Things through out the years have made me feel that he has never been totally happy with me. He had brought up things that have happened years ago.

The clique on the shift is bad. When we are together I am left out of conversations and activities. There were "C" shift events I was not invited to. And one event I was invited to, was cancelled, but no one told me. There is another guy on the shift that is out of the clique as well. That is Brandon. I have seen Shane not sign up for a night on Rescue when he saw Brandon was on it. He does not really hide the fact he refuses to sign up and work with people on the crew other than Jason.

What is funny is I was yelled at for missing training. However I make most Monday night trainings. In fact the guy who has missed a ton is Shane.

The final straw was Friday's shift. On the way to a call I had the window down, as I always do when going code somewhere. Michael made reference to Jason being the driver for the rest of the night. I was not sure if he was joking or not. But at the end of the call, we were at the hospital. Normally the guy who drove to the scene also drove back from the hospital. The keys were handed to Jason and not me. That did it for me. I am to the point I want off the shift I have never been welcome on.

I talked to John about joining his shift. I asked if he would have a problem with it since we are friends and all. He said he would be happy to have me on his shift. I e-mail Michael and requested a meeting to talk about switching my crews. I have always tried to stay with Michael since I am the last original C shift-er. However I am tired of not being a C shift-er when it comes to social activities.


TUESDAY, NOVEMBER FOURTH
I got a call from Jason who was trying to install some drivers onto his computer so it could get more than sixteen colors. He said that it wanted to re-install Windows and when he did, upon reboot it would perform a Blue Screen with a memory dump. I told him I would look at it on Wednesday.

I played poker at the fire station after training. At one point I was laughing really hard. I could feel that warm tingling feeling as my blood stopped going to my brain. Tunnel vision was setting in. Pretty soon I felt a sharp hard solid pain on the right side of my head. I heard someone say, sarcastically, I think we should call an EMT. I open my eyes and I am on the floor. I had passed out. Fell out of my chair. Hit the big screen TV so hard that I pushed it back about a foot. I got back to the table. The rest of the people, all firefighters and most of them EMT's, just sat there waiting for me. The finny thing about this was that the same thing happened in Pullman a few years ago. I passed out from laughing at the poker table with firefighter/EMT's sitting around it. Of course when I came to, no one had come to my aid, they were all sitting there. I did find out that John said "I ain't doing CPR."


WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER FIFTH
When I got off work I headed to class. Rob was not there today. We worked on the Case for class together. He did quite a bit of work on it. We have one more Case later this semester. Anyway, there was an attendance quiz. I helped him out on it. I headed to Jason's house to pick up his computer. It crashed on Tuesday. I took it to my office and spent the rest of the evening working on it. I had to reinstall Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and an application called eTimeClock that Brian and I wrote. I finished that at about eleven pm and was ready to hit the hay.